Filenews 13 August 2021 - by Frixos Dalitis
British residents in Cyprus will not have the right to vote or claim office in the Local Government Authority, following Britain's exit from the European Union last year.
Although initially there were thoughts of finding another formula under a bilateral agreement between the two countries based on the principle of reciprocity, the issue cannot go ahead. As we are informed, this chapter was handled by both the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of the Interior, asking for an opinion from the Legal Service.
In the opinion, as we are informed, it is felt that there can be no exception for the British in this matter, as this would set a precedent for third-country residents in Cyprus. In other words, if any exception were granted to the British, the door would be opened for citizens of any other country in Cyprus to claim the right to vote and stand as a candidate.
Such a development may have had wider political dimensions in the case of Cyprus. Therefore, the scene for the local government elections may not have been clear, but what is clear and definitive is that the British inhabitants of Cyprus, who amount to around 38,000 [the article states 5,000 which is incorrect!], will not be able to participate in the local elections and will therefore have to be removed from the special electoral list of the Communities.
On the subject of the British, a letter was sent in the past to the responsible Minister of the Interior Nikos Nouris, which was also communicated to "F", by a British national living permanently in Cyprus and who is also a member of the Community Council of Talas in Paphos. As Cathi Delaney said, she was trying to find out what would happen to the case of UK nationals living in Cyprus in terms of local elections.
Mrs Delaney, who recently contacted 'F', said that so far she has received no reply and does not know what will apply.
In her letter to the home secretary and representing expatriate Britons in the community she asked whether British expats would retain their vote and their right to vote in local elections and whether there are plans to allow other third-country nationals residing in Cyprus and owning property to vote in local elections, for example the Russians and the Chinese.
As she said in her letter, these individuals have invested in the country by buying real estate and making Cyprus their home, so it would be reasonable, as a minimum, to give them the right to have a say through the elections. She also noted that several European countries have already responded positively to the request by the people of the United Kingdom to retain the right to vote and to stand as a candidate in local elections.
She also expressed concern about whether the database for UK expatriates could be checked to ensure that voters were not removed from the electoral roll, as, as she noted, it was stated that after Brexit Britons would be removed from the special electoral roll months ago.
Anita pushes for reform
Priority is given to the reform of local government by the President of the House of Representatives Anita Demetriou. In a letter from the House to the Director-General of the Ministry of the Interior, it should be noted that President Anita Demetriou, in the context of her personal commitment to monitor the progress of the pending reform bills before the House, also includes the pending bills before the Parliamentary Committee on the Interior Bills with the headings "The Provincial Complexes Act of 2015", "The Communities (Amendment) Law of 2020" and the "The Municipalities Law 2020'.
The letter also notes that already the President of the House in communication on 9 August 2021 with the chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on the Interior, Aristo Damianou, was informed that the issue under petition is being given the highest priority and that on 9 September 2021 the issue of the reform of Local Government is among the issues to be discussed in the presence of the Minister of the Interior, in the context of a meeting and discussion and wider issues of its competence.
"By mentioning the above, the President of the House assures that it will closely monitor the progress of the debate with a view to submitting the bills under petition to the plenary of the House for a vote as soon as possible and with the ultimate aim, inter alia, of using resources from the European Union (EU) Recovery and Resilience Mechanism, in accordance with the announced programmes", the letter concludes.
UPDATE FROM THE BRITISH HIGH COMMISSION IN NICOSIA:
The
UK Government has raised the issue of voting and candidacy rights for UK
nationals in Cyprus a number of times, including at Ministerial level. We
consider it of upmost importance that UK nationals continue to be eligible to
vote and stand Cypriot local elections - the same rights that Cypriot nationals
enjoy in the UK. We have not been informed that UK nationals will lose their
eligibility to vote and stand in local elections, and we await clarification
from the Government of Cyprus.
